Rating: NNNN
Seventy-year-old gospel singer Odetta, one of the civil rights movement’s musical leaders, has infinite vocal experience. Now more than ever, the voice that inspired Bob Dylan is a weathered, textured instrument, over which Odetta has complete control. That’s so much of the joy of this very practically live gospel record (the only accompaniment is a piano and the three Holmes Brothers): hearing the lady summon up the most mind-blowing soul vocals from a place unknown to most singers. I can’t say where that place is, but hearing the unbreakable devotion in Oddetta’s voice to the spirituals she belts (This Little Light Of Mine, What Month Was Jesus Born In?, Virgin Mary Had One Son), I have a few guesses.
